For many Heads this was a peak experience, but the tape of this show was never particularly popular. There are many you-had-to-be-there shows, but the lack of a good SBD (or great AUDs) has diminished the Telluride experience. The show is perhaps best known for the false start at the encore, a frequent filler traded as "The Brokedown Brokedown". Though the SBD/FM sources have a terrible mix, it was actually poor in person, as evidenced by the AUDs (those close enough heard Bobby from his monitor rather than the stacks). The FM sources that circulated during the Blanks & Postage era are still the best. The show doesn't stand out musically, but on this date it was the best place on Earth.

Whatever slight tension existed in getting people through the gauntlet of rumors, media discouragement and backroads was now completely gone, and the atmosphere in the campgrounds, town and park had become idyllic, beatific, utopian even. Stores on the walk through town had set up "free or donation" shelves, and with a surplus of tickets the second day was free. Locals who had used their special allotment for speculation were left holding, as the BGP crew didn't even bother setting up ticket checks at the park. My wife said, "You do realize how far out you went into harmonic convergence yesterday? A couple days sober, please." Oops! She - or maybe others - may have taken me more serious than I took myself. Apparently I had kept working it back into conversations. Since the second day at Red Rocks, flyers (the tweets of the era) had been passed out and tucked onto windshields touting various claims, predictions and viewpoints concerning the event. What is was varied wildly depending on whom you asked, but all assertions had a supernatural root/magical thinking in common (most involving "planetary alignment"). It wasn't just me, every person you stopped and talked to brought it up.

Because the TouchHead phenomenon had become conspicuous the previous week (with the vid in rotation on MTV), it was the lack of this at Telluride that was now noticeable. Unlike the previous day, eight songs were repeated from the Red Rocks run (which was mostly the same audience), three of them played better. During the second set I made a porta-potty run and on the way back to our blanket there was a group of nude people dancing in the back. I watched as a couple people wandering by stopped, thought "well that looks like fun", and declothed on the spot.

The experience was over too soon and I did not relish the Dead having booked a show in the Sonoran Desert in August! By the end of this show I'd have traded or miracled my ticket for Chandler, had someone needed. However I had finally realized that the Dead traveling circus could end for any number of reasons (even the coma hadn't convinced me that Jer was not Superman), and wanted to get in some shows while I could. Coming down from the San Juan Mountains, it became a dream. For years there was talk of returning; Graham wanted to mount a 3-day festival, inviting guests. But the genie was out of the bottle and a redux would have had a calamitous element, during a period when the public spotlight had focused upon us. Ultimately the JGB was booked for July '91, only to be cancelled after the intervention that followed the Denver 6/28 show resulted in a rehab stint.

First Set. You can't hear Phil, and Bobby may as well have not showed up. The instruments that are present are separated, Owsley-like. It was mostly this way FOH as well. The opener's a wash. That's not uncommon, but usually the mix is fixed by the second song. Little Red Rooster is the first repeat in 5 shows. 8/11 was the big one, but this has moments (and a bit more Phil/Bobby). After a tepid Iko Iko there's a Beer Barrel Polka tuning. I was such a Dead nerd that I was thrilled, writing it on my setlist like a trainspotter. Far From Me is average, made more so by following the ace version on the 13th. West L.A. had been around for 5 years but was suddenly being bumped into rotation. The playing gets better here but the mix prevents appreciation - Bobby's guitar is still turned off. There are only five Big Railroad Blues in '87, and I like this one. The 2nd solo is great, though Bobby may as well have unplugged. In Promised Land he is slightly more audible on the AUDs.

Second Set. Usually by the second day at a venue you have things ironed out at the soundboard - you've sussed the acoustical effects of thousands of bodies. But Healy has Jer backed only by Brent, and by this point it was intentional - perhaps another rift he had with Bobby & Phil. Push didn't exactly excite as an opener, but the playing is good. In fact the first two are better than their Red Rocks counterparts, with Samson featuring inspired, traveling, thin-air solos. Healy has no choice but to turn on all players for Drums>Space. Drums is awesome, and was very loud, in bright daylight, echoing off 13k peaks. This inspires the other boys as they come out for Space, which has Phil detuning for valley-echoing thunder on a clear day. The minimum requirements are met for an Other One which again has Bobby's guitar mostly turned off. Truckin' was the first since Eugene, a month earlier. But the next peak is a solid, potent Black Peter that's the best of the summer. Good Lovin' is a flâneur, and though Touch isn't the era's absolute best [check 7/26, for one], I'm all over the solo. The second encore is famous in Dead lore for it's false start. Brokedown has a tricky beginning. It starts in the key of A, and the intro then goes through 6 chords [A, D, Bmin, C, G, Emin], before changing up to the key of G for the body of the song. Jer starts singing the G part lyrics while playing in the intro key, causing he and Bobby to disagree on chord sequence, and Phil to come in early - on the wrong root note. The rest have to decide if Jer is wanting to skip the intro, like they sometimes did with other songs, and then it's monster trainwreck mania. Bobby says, "There we go...", but it's unsaleable and they all stop and look at Jer.
Jer: "Wait a minute, this is all fucked up!"
Phil [almost off-mic, mock-serious]: "Pardon me?"
Bobby: "Oxygen deprivation!"
Jer [on mic, unusually]: "We're in the wrong key!" [they weren't]
Jer: "You people are used to this - the altitude and all!" [actually a minimum of the crowd were townies. It's like Jer forgot he was being followed all over the country]
Jer: "Forget all of that happened!"
It was funny in person, in keeping with the very relaxed afternoon and audience free interchange, Jer enjoying the levity of the moment. Afterward, Bill Graham came out and gave a speech, followed by the mayor of the town. This used to circ on AUDs, and it's on the mk2_oade_jacobs. I recall somebody coming out, maybe the mayor again, and saying that the fears had all been unfounded; the town and hillsides were cleaner than before the DeadHeads came [you millennials don't know, but litter/public trash dumping was a serious problem in the '70s/'80s].

1st Set:  C
2nd Set: B-
Overall = 3 stars

Highlights:
Samson & Delilah - traveling, thin-air solos
Drums>Space - intriguing, artistic, Phil detunes thunder
Black Peter - peaks

SOURCES: The ladner_4170 works best, if you use liberal EQ and re-balance. It has a slight cut at the end of Half-Step and does not have a complete Good Lovin'. These are complete on the less-clear miller_81679, which needs +1% pitch correction and has the channels reversed. There is a better AUD source, not yet on the Archive. Touch of Grey, incl. the start of Brokedown, is up on YouTube, as is the lot documentary "Festival Tapes" (I may or may not be seen briefly and I'm neither saying nor not saying I had a mullet).

it's " The Festival Tapes 1.0: The Grateful Dead & Friends " where you can see all the heads in beautiful Telluride , areal and audience footage and some stage views at the end of the concert , incl the Brokedown ! makes it even more fun !

25 yrs ago today what an epic experience didnt think it could get better after red rocks. Just blown away. sure miss those days but the memories i will always have till the day I leave this broken down palace....... ;) ;) ;)

Best one ever right here.I am too lazy to look to see if it was the first.

I flew up from Houston for Red Rocks and Telluride. My buddy flew in a day later. The drive to Telluride was long in the rental that I had plastered with homemade stickers. The ticket release on the way was way cool. The two days were fantastic, from the opening notes to the fun at the Carry Me To The Moon Saloon. Long story short...........my 15 seconds of fame.......during Samson on Sunday I was rockin like never before and it was very clear from my position left center stage 15 feet back, Jerry was checking me out because I was moving so much, good times to say the least.

This was also the first day of the Harmonic Convergence. The whole run from Red Rocks to the Mountain Aire Music Festival saw lots of people buzzing about celestial education, time and quartz. We left the area pretty late, passed through Stoner around 3 and pulled into the visitors parking lot at Canyon de Chelly in Az a little before sunrise. A local man came up, looked us over and said "Get me high or get the fuck away from my canyon." We smoked, ate strawberry ice cream and told him we were heading to Sedona for the gathering there. He laughed, mumbled something about "suggestable hippies" and tols us that if we really wanted to help the planet we should head down to Window Rock and join the protest against a proposed strip-mining expansion. Which we did...

That's essentially what it was like being at these shows in this place.

Spotty music night 2, but it was too late at that point for any downer. The whole thing was a peak experience. As were the dead and all you heads, over the years.

Remember how BG and all created the subversion after Red Rocks? It worked, amazingly. What a stunning place, with the Dead in front of you, and 3 fourteeners behind you. I think everyone went for it the first night, it was too much.

Olatunji at sunrise.

I'm rating it high, because it was an epic and magic time. Well done all.

This kind of stuff, can you get it anymore????

This wasn't Ventura. I remember Telluride well enough. Overall the best place for a show on earth... Well except for Egypt maybe.
We had so much fun these nights it's hard to believe that it's been 21 years ago. The alltitide messed with the band and the wind messed with the sound but it didn;t matter. It still sounded pretty damn good... We were hoping for a 2nd set Shakedown but they opened with Push... Oh my Lordy! Well you get what you get!
The Brokedown was hillarious to begin with but finished strong! Most fun ever!

I was there. The show you have is from two days earlier at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. I was at the Ventura shows and the Telluride show. I don't remember all of it but I do remember the Mississipi 1/2 step and the Masterpeice was the first time they played it. They played Shakedown and Minglewood at Telluride.

your good buddy. I must say the rock out with your .......... really makes me look like a saint huh.

First - lemme say that last guy was a prick - don't pick on jboy.... He's just a head like the rest of us.

A friend who was at the show directed me here. It was a pretty typical show in that the band had their ups and downs. Its what adds character to the Dead. I have to say - in copmparrison to many shows I have been to - this one had a certain playful nature. I would have loved to have been there.

I strongly advise downloading this show - if for no other reason, its a great recording and the boys were really enjoying their time in Telluride. Besides the hilarious Brokedown thing - they were really quite ON this night too.

Take care all - and as always rock out w/ your c*ck out...

1st Set: Mississippi" is a good call considering the pastoral surroundings. (Speaking of those surroundings, I'm in a spacious but sufferingly proper office hellhole.) Not super-duper powerful, but pleasant enough. Where are the hounds on "Rooster?" Kinda too slow for my mood. Thank God Brent instills some life. Because it inspires this colossal sound 6:30-7:15. "Iko" is a needed pick-me up...but contains generic soloing. Some time to reflect on the day...and "Beer Barrel Polka Tuning" :o)A real knee-slapper of a bit. "Far From Me" should have been crossed off in favor of a "Lazy Lighnin/Supp" Next on the 'to do' list is a trip to "West LA." Fine slang-y (mid- 5's), but kinda blah personality. "Big" is a necessary call to up-tempo tightnness. Let's continue the easy foot-skiffing on a rollin "Promised."

2nd Set: Oh Lordie..., you've got to be kidding us all with this "Push" crap... "Samson" burns some thin tire rubberings. "He's Gone" remains strictly standard til the mildly interesting vocal outro jam that leads to a musical breakdown into "Drums." The energy is not at a sufficient enough level to garner more than passing interest. However, the lengthy (for '87) "OO" that emerges from "Space" is consistently engaging. It's a "fuckin' shame" that all sequences aren't this enjoyable as "Truckin'" keeps the tone akin to 'good times, great memories.' Oh, and how they should have gone into 'Smokestack...' instead it's the rightful blues of "Black Peter." It continues the trend of the 2nd part of the 2nd set...not mountainous peaks, bit never a lull... "Good Lovin" is fine, but nothing blockbuster-y.

Yay, let's conclude with "Touch," as all hopes for significance, really after "Truckin" have subsided. That's not to say that the end of this show hasn;t been pleasant, or strong...
Awww..another double encore... "Brokedown" lacks any set-up intro, in fact it lacks anything cept for Jerry... So, he's singing, while the others are giving like 1/5th their norm effort..."Wait a minute, this is all fucked Up...Oxygen Deprivation....WE're in the wrong Key...people, we're not used to this, the altitude and all..."
the resulting attempt is far more affecting and successful.

3 star event.

My first ever Dead show, and I had no idea what was in store. I was on vacation with my parents...I'd never even *heard* of the Dead. Turned me on in a huge way! I could have asked for a more perfect first show.

Thats funny Jerry says- "altitude in all" and laughs. It was always rare but fun when Garcia talked with the crowd. Must of been beautiful up there in Telluride with the Dead. Would of been a perfect weekend get-away vaction to CO.
Dam.....

The brokedown debacile is the funniest thing I have witnessed since following the band.

rest of the show is good too.

the entire weekend at telluride was an absolute kick in the pants!! in my humble 100 shows or so, i never had more fun!! although the performances weren't exactly spectacular, they were wonderful. the whole vibe was off the hook and it comes across in the recordings. everyone was just hangin' out, including the band. and of course, the brokedown brokedown is priceless!! funny thing, i saw more than 1 person that weekend literally unable to give tickets away!! download this show!!

great show...
i love it when jerry stops the band during brokedown. its worth the download.

Very fun, The air Quality got to Jerry < He starts brokedown with the wrong words, stops the band then makes it up with a kicken brokedown. Great sound as well......